I've Returned from the Dark Side

So for the past few months, I haven’t played any Halo 4. I got to SR-130 in January, and since then was tired of dealing with the stupid DMR every game. I mean, a bad player with a DMR is easy to beat. But a good player with one is a different story. I don’t like using the DMR because I don’t want to then become what I dislike. I’ve been a die-hard Halo fan since 2002, have always believed that Halo was the best FPS, and I have the bloody Xbox and Limited Editions of the game. Even then, I was put off.

So for a while, I abstained from the game.

I instead was playing Black Ops II, with an ultimate goal of reaching 9th Prestige. I finally achieved that two weekends ago, and was glad to finally just sit back and enjoy the game and not focus on ranking up.

That is, until I was mysteriously banned for 14 days and reset the following weekend.

I’m left to assume it’s because of how much ranking I did the weekend before. I had been 6th Prestige when it started and 9th when it ended (it was a Double XP weekend). I did nothing at all against the Terms of Service, but for some reason I was banned like that.

So I returned to Halo 4, and now I don’t see myself leaving.

The gameplay is so much better than Call of Duty. In that game, I died all the time from constant BS. In Halo, I actually do very well and get the top score of at least my team in every game that I play. I mean, that’s not new, but after a few months of just Black Ops II, I realize it more so now than before. This is because in Halo, if you have skill, you can do well no matter what you do. Not so much the case in Call of Duty.

The DMR still bites, but as we all know, that situation is being handled now in a way I didn’t expect. I like the idea of buffing all the other weapons, as it will make the killtimes closer to previous Halo games, and make things much more fast-paced.

The only thing keeping me from playing Halo 4 now is that I just bought Oblivion for my Xbox. I bought it on the PC back in December, but my main PC can’t run it for some reason (yet it can run Skyrim moderately okay) and the only one that can run it is my old laptop from 2008, and the performance sucks.

But now Halo is back to being my FPS of choice. That ban, while frustrating, saved me from the Dark Side.

P.S.: Not that Call of Duty is inherently bad. Treyarch actually does a lot for the short development time they’re given, and their games are pretty quality for that. But this ban is still BS.

Welcome Back

I was thinking about switching over. I might not now. Thanks, broski.

> I was thinking about switching over. I might not now. Thanks, broski.

Switching to COD of you don’t enjoy Halo 4 killtimes isn’t the brightest thing to do. (Not pointed at you, just saying).

We’ve been there before. I remember playing MW2 after I got tired of playing Halo 3 for over a year straight.

Sure enough when I came back I sucked tremendously at Halo, like barely getting a few kills. After that I had a self-realization that CoD is a really easy and talentless game. Though, I still bought BlOps when it came out, b/c I’ve always bought CoD since the 2nd game. That was the single laggiest and crappy game I’ve had the misfortune of playing, the SP was also anticlimactic, in true Treyarch fashion.

> I was thinking about switching over. I might not now. Thanks, broski.

Yeah, it’s not that great. My favorite CoD is still the first Black Ops, with Black Ops II maybe coming in second. But there’s a large gap there, because Black Ops II has so much BS in it with weird hit detection, camera angles, and other oddities. My third is World at War, but only because there are so many hackers on it now. Modern Warfare is just plain trash that I don’t even consider.

> We’ve been there before. I remember playing MW2 after I got tired of playing Halo 3 for over a year straight.
>
> Sure enough when I came back I sucked tremendously at Halo, like barely getting a few kills. After that I had a self-realization that CoD is a really easy and talentless game. Though, I still bought BlOps when it came out, b/c I’ve always bought CoD since the 2nd game. That was the single laggiest and crappy game I’ve had the misfortune of playing, the SP was also anticlimactic, in true Treyarch fashion.

I was the same way, until I realized how much garbage MW2 actually was. With the ridiculous weapon/perk balance, ridiculous killstreaks (Harrier, Nuke, etc.), and quickscoping, it’s probably the worst CoD ever. It’s fun, sure, but not quality.

I’m also a bit rusty. I mean, as I said, I can usually top the scoreboards, but only usually. Sometimes I’ll have bad teammates that can’t hold down an objective properly, or go up against a few good players using DMR’s or something. Also, I’ve been trying to get the Castle DLC achievements, which has been sidetracking my gameplay. Who’s the sadomasochist that put the “Get 5 splatters in a game” and “EMP and hijack a vehicle” achievements in the same DLC?!

Now that you have played both, are they truly that similar?

> Now that you have played both, are they truly that similar?

They are not similar at all.

> > I was thinking about switching over. I might not now. Thanks, broski.
>
> Switching to COD of you don’t enjoy Halo 4 killtimes isn’t the brightest thing to do. (Not pointed at you, just saying).

Killtimes aren’t H4’s biggest problem. The patch sounds awesome though.

I like CoD because it doesn’t -Yoink- around like H4 does. CoD is a casual game, so it’s fun to be played casually. I like running around with a 50cal and akimbo pistols.

H4 is a weird blend of Halo and casual/CoD mechanics. Sometimes it’s fun, but it’s only fun because it reminds you of previous Halos. Then you get killed by a random incineration canon, and it really leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I’ll probably stick with H4 though. It’s changing for the better atm.

It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.

> It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.

I can do fine without it. If I use it, I add to the problem. It’s not idiotic.

I too turned from Halo to BO2. That didn’t last long however, as I believe BO2 to be the laggiest mess of a game I’ve ever played. Part of the reason I dropped Halo was lag but BO2 turned out to be worse.

I’ve been playing Halo 3 and the odd game of MW2 of late and it confuses me that I get a fully better connection on games that are years older and have smaller populations. Almost flawless.

Once they impliment the weapon balance tweaks I’ll try Halo 4 again. Providing there’s somewhere I can play without infinity settings that isn’t an MLG playlist.

> > It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.
>
> I can do fine without it. If I use it, I add to the problem. It’s not idiotic.

Yeah, but you are limiting yourself. No way around that. Using the BR against randoms is one thing, but in games with good players using DMRs, you don’t stand a chance.

> > It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.
>
> I can do fine without it. If I use it, I add to the problem. It’s not idiotic.

But, you’re purposely choosing not to use the most advantageous weapon. I also feel like the game would be much better without the DMR as a starting weapon, but it’s objectively the best gun so I’m definitely going to use it.

> It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.

Disagree (as much as one can disagree with an unsupported opinion). My loadouts haven’t seen a DMR since I started focusing on the Weapons Commendations. Only primary loadouts remaining for me are Light Rifle Suppresor and Storm Rifle.

The Light Rifle will soon be my most frequently used weapon and it serves me very well against the DMR so long as I’m not standing out in the opinion like a noob.

Edit: Welcome back, OP!

> > It’s fine to dislike what the DMR does to game-play, but choosing not use it is just idiotic.
>
> Disagree (as much as one can disagree with an unsupported opinion). My loadouts haven’t seen a DMR since I started focusing on the Weapons Commendations. Only primary loadouts remaining for me are Light Rifle Suppresor and Storm Rifle.
>
> The Light Rifle will soon be my most frequently used weapon and it serves me very well against the DMR so long as I’m not standing out in the opinion like a noob.
>
> Edit: Welcome back, OP!

It’s not really opinion that the DMR is the best starting weapon.

I’ve found myself beating DMR users with the Carbine, although most of the time I have to rly on surpreise tactics and such, but the rate of fire compenses that.

> I’ve found myself beating DMR users with the Carbine, although most of the time I have to rly on surpreise tactics and such, but the rate of fire compenses that.

I just want to point out that the “But, I can beat randoms in matchmaking with the Carbine/BR/Light Rifle” argument does not apply. In games full of “good” players DMR will always beat the other weapons.

Not completely relevant but when you said you always show up first in your team, I couldn’t help but check your service record… Boost much?

Yeah, I started playing BO2 in january too, not cuz of my rank though, and came back a few days ago and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the game as well. Sure Halo 4 has its faults, but it’s a really good game overall.